Voters Can Decide Whether 8 Is Enough, State Supreme Court Says

TALLAHASSEE — A proposal that would limit terms of most state officials to eight years is legal and should be decided by voters next year, the Florida Supreme Court said Thursday.

The court ruled in a 5-2 decision that 8 is Enough, as Winter Park financier Phil Handy calls his proposal, meets all the requirements for a citizens initiative.

''Today the people won,'' Handy said. ''Career politicians lost. Deep-pocketed special interests lost. And the ever-entrenched 'good ole boy' network that wants to keep term limits off the ballot lost.''

Handy has collected about 135,000 signatures to put his proposal on the Nov. 3, 1992 ballot. He must collect 363,886 verified signatures by Aug. 14.

The court said in an opinion written by Justice Stephen Grimes that Handy's proposal complied with a Florida Constitution provision limiting proposed amendments to a single subject.

''The sole subject of the proposed amendment is limiting the number of consecutive terms that certain elected public officers may serve,'' the court said. ''Although the proposed amendment affects officeholders in three different branches of government, that fact alone is not sufficient to invalidate the proposed amendment.''

Handy's proposal would limit Cabinet members, state and U.S. representatives to eight years in office, state senators to eight or 10 years and U.S. senators to 12 years. The governor is already limited to two, four-year terms.

Opponents argued that the proposal violated the U.S. Constitution by imposing limits on congressional terms, but the court declined to rule on that issue.

Justice Ben Overton, who wrote one of two dissenting opinions, said the court should have saved everyone a lot of time and money by ruling on the federal issue.

''To allow the people to vote and then, if adopted, hold the provision unconstitutional on its face perpetuates a fraud on the voting public,'' he said.

Term-limits opponents said they were disappointed in the ruling but would continue their fight to defeat the proposal at the polls.

House Speaker-designate Bo Johnson, D-Milton, is sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the terms of legislators and state officials to 12 years. It would not affect members of Congress.

If the Legislature passes Johnson's proposal, it could end up on the ballot alongside Handy's eight-year limit. But Johnson's proposal contains a provision that it would take priority over any other proposal approved by voters.